The trauma of Brexit and the fight to make sure the UK's divorce from the EU does not ruin the lives of 1.2 million Brits living across the EU has brought people together both online and in person. This is the story of how the 'citizen of nowhere network' came together.

This is Part Three of the story on how British in Europe, the grassroots civil society movement, was born. You can read Part One and Part Two below.

The unprecedented campaign for citizens rights by British volunteers across Europe has built bridges from one community to another in individual EU countries and across the continent.

Thousands have come together both in person and online.

Dozens of Facebook groups founded and run by volunteers have united thousands of British citizens left shocked and anxious after the referendum.

While these groups, such as Bremain in Spain and Remain in France Together, are, as their name suggests, Remainer-focused, they have brought bring together people from all walks of life and even people who voted Leave.

“One of the only positives of Brexit is that I have met some fantastic people across Europe,” the co-chair of umbrella group British in Europe Fiona Godfrey says.

“I have seen people who have nothing to do with politics get involved. The knock on effect will be good for them and their communities,” adds Godfrey. Almost all the campaigners involved with British in Europe are pro-European and ultimately anti Brexit.

Kalba Meadows, who leads the 11,000 strong Remain in France Together (RIFT) confirms the irony that “none of us would have met each other if it weren’t for Brexit.”

Many of the online forums serve as a virtual parliament, court and advice clinic wrapped into one for thousands of upset UK nationals in Europe, many of whom were unable to vote in the referendum.

Members of British in Europe meet with French senator Olivier Cadic and Nicolas Hatton, the head of the3Million.

Clarissa Killwick, a volunteer with Brexpats Hear Our Voice and British in Italy, agrees that the connections made via these online groups are one of the major highlights of her work.

From the Baltics to Malta, via Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal and the EU’s major economies, British in Europe is now made up of 25 groups across European states.

'British in the Baltics' is the latest group, says Debra Williams, British in Europe’s outreach coordinator and founder of advocacy group Brexpats Hear Our Voice.

The biggest challenges came in “countries where there wasn’t any coverage,” Williams says.

Groups were started in places British in Europe lacked a footprint in thanks to social media connections, adds Williams. “Facebook was absolutely key in creating connections,” she says.

Williams, formerly with the RAF and an air traffic controller, says her job involves keeping the groups informed about the steering committee’s key policies.

Kathryn Dobson, a British journalist in southwest France who manages social media for British in Europe, joined the movement out of concerns for her children.

“Everybody was talking about the issue of Brits in Europe being one about pensioners when I could see from my own situation that we needed to be talking about families and young people,” says Dobson, who lives in Vienne, western France.

“There was a danger that the whole story was not being told,” she says, highlighting how at the time she suspected what is now confirmed by statistics: that 80 per cent of Brits in Europe are of working age, defying the stereotype that Brits in Europe are mainly pensioners.

RIFT founder Kalba Meadows (holding post card on left) British in Europe co-chair Jane Golding (centre) and the3million CEO Nicolas Hatton (holding postcard on right) deliver a letter to the British PM's office at 10 Downing Street in November 2018. Photo: British in Europe.

As the rollercoaster Brexit process unfolded, British in Europe’s strength has been the ability to adapt and stay relevant.

In individual member states, their efforts have offered thousands of Brits some respite in the face of continued uncertainty.

Following intensive lobbying efforts by British in Europe members, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark have all created contingency plans for Brits in the event that the current Brexit deal collapses and the UK should exit the EU without an agreement.

These contingency plans would continue to guarantee certain key rights for Brits living in those countries, although in certain countries like France, it all depends on Britain securing the rights of French citizens.

In Germany alone, Jane Golding, Daniel Tetlow and other British in Germany members held eight meetings with Germany’s Brexit coordinators at the Federal German Foreign Office. Similar pressure has been placed on governments across the EU.

“Brexit is crap but the relationships developed with MEPs, British in Europe and unlikely champions across the EU is the best bit,” says the organisation’s spokeswoman, Brussels-based Laura Shields.

“I’m now connected with caterers in the Alps, someone who runs a children’s company in Budapest, winemakers in the south of France. I would never have met these people if it hadn’t been for the movement," Shields said.

Many of these groups serve as informal therapy forums and safe havens for vulnerable Brits to express their concerns about Brexit. But the groups have also helped outline and bring together a British Diaspora in Europe.

“It’s a resource for Britain,” says author Giles Tremlett, who has been based in Madrid for the last 25 years. “We’re not represented in parliament in the same way expatriates are represented in France or Italy,” says Tremlett, a key middleman who helped establish British in Europe in late 2016.

While French citizens in the UK have Senator Olivier Cadic to represent them, Italian citizens abroad are looked after by Luigi Vignali, director general for Italian citizens abroad at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affair. UK nationals in Europe have no equivalent.

Joining the march in London was also a show of solidarity by British in Europe with EU Citizens in the UK, another cross-border bond that has been forged as a result of the uncertainty and fears over Brexit.

"The campaign and advocacy group British in Europe has worked hand in hand with our counterpart the3million for two years now, and our friendship and collaboration has been one of the few positives to come out of Brexit," RIFT's Kalba Meadows told The Local at the time.

"We'll be meeting and marching together as The 5 Million to celebrate that friendship as well as our shared European-ness."

Even with the key Brexit vote in the British parliament just days away, the future for Brits in Europe and Europeans in the UK feels more uncertain than ever and the need for representation never greater.

The campaigning, the lobbying, the marching and the sharing of experiences will likely continue for months if not years to come, but at least Britons in Europe have a community ready for battle.